Diamonds In The Coal

Get a load of that with the snakeskins on
Looks like a refugee from a headbangin' song
Sweet july evening seems all the world we've ever known
Is here at the breaker shakin' them restless bones

Brown baggin' as the music's draggin'
On a cheap cassette machine
Honey, i know no matter where we go
We're gonna keep us a piece of this routine

Chorus

It's like a rembrandt
A one of a kind in a shades-of-grey world
Like a rembrandt, baby
A genuine find in a come and go swirl

World's in the moonlight, there's diamonds in the coal
Layin' on my hood we're runnin' soul in soul
Yellin' out my name i think i know who that was
This moment's got me higher than a black coffee buzz

Come on, girl, you can call your boss
And fake a case of the flu
You and me, we can cast some shadows
In that nightlight your mama left on for you

Chorus

Drinkin' domestic on a night as majestic
As a true hell raiser's bliss
Every workin' day they take a little more away
But they don't know of a social affair as redeeming as this

Same tapes as last week, that makes 'em cool
Same grooves, same times, drives the social tool
If this here is heaven than the saints are reelin'
Some of them crawlin' on a tall grass ceilin'

Honey, if life don't give us any more
It gave us a season
To groove 'neath the stars at the number 9 breaker
Not askin' for answers or reasons

Chorus

The kings of america were falling out of fashion
The system systematically was shooting out their lights
Driven to the level of paparazzi comers
They bid the public an ugly goodnight

Well, the shaved and depraved
The concealed and the well-healed
The maintained and the drained
The walking dead and the well-read

All have a stake in the model and the make
Of the latest star attractions

Chorus

Can you tell us who's the next big thing
Can you tell us who's the next big thing
We know they ain't gonna last
But it's always a blast to devour every second

The girl in the pressure cooker's losing her mystique now
The brains at the star say she's dying by degrees
With tales of self abuse and a criminal citation
Her sun is setting in the hollywood sea

Well, the ares and the ain'ts
The gratified and the fried
The diseased and the pleased
The endowed and the street crowd

All want a piece of the latest release
To stroke the head of their condition

Chorus

They met up in rockport
Where the moon rose early and the days were short
And the miles between were still too many to mention


The blue ridge rides at starfall
Oh, the epic scope of it all
Those days before the double-edged blade of contention

Chorus

Sometimes passion's like a cigarette
Burning clean out 'fore it really takes wing
But you always fly high for a little while
When you think you've got the real thing

He moved in for the long haul
The '81 hog, the guitar and all
They got an apartment, a conversation piece

But the big spark dimmed substantial
You know it's always financials
That give the portrait of happiness its nasty crease

Chorus

Sometimes they'd find common ground
Some days he'd run to where he couldn't be found
A ride in the pines can truly inspire
The need for a soul to come clean from a waning desire

He laid there deciding
What side of a man should come out of hiding
While she laid there, the key to his conventions

She had brought some changes
But how could he pretend with all these empty pages
And the miles to go, still too many to mention

Chorus

Do you think you got the real thing

Janie got a present late one christmas day
Immaculate conception one could hardly say
She took her little baby and all her daddy's cash
The guilt stayed forever but the money didn't last

Chorus

Tell me no more secrets
Tell me no more lies
When the road you thought you were on
Ain't the road to paradise

She said, "what's so lonely about being alone
I've got this little boy that i can call my own"
"tomorrow," she said, "we're gonna start a new life"
She stared out the window and she turned out the light

Chorus

Paradise
It's funny it ain't much like...
Leave that girl alone to live her life
She's been around enough to know what's wrong or right

You don't gotta tell her
You don't gotta tell her it's alright

Janie got pregnant she was the queen of our class
Hot little romance but it didn't last
Last time i saw her it was thanksgiving day
She was trading in her food stamps at the iga

Chorus

My name is jackson jameson, a coal miner by trade
From a part of pennsylvania even jesus couldn't save
With towns named after indian chiefs and union army generals
It's nowhere in particular but everywhere in general

History says americans, we have the right to choose
But they never mention those of us whose opinions aren't used

Well, the big flood came in '72 and tore the railroad bridges down
Washed away our only means of getting shipments out of town
And the government won't subsidize rebuilding the central line
So there's barroom fights and anthracite and loads of extra time

History says americans, we have the right to choose
But they never mention those of us whose opinions aren't used

Chorus

There's diamonds in the coal everybody ignores
A man never finds what he ain't looking for
A tree only grows if you nurture the seed
There's too many gems this world doesn't need

The people left like rainwater flowing through an open drain
But here i sit too proud to admit and too damn old to change
Now, the monuments at gettysburg keep the tourists going there
But we died too slow and quietly for anyone to care

History says americans, we have the right to choose
But they never mention those of us whose opinions aren't used

Chorus

Everyone that should has got their dark glasses on
But it's not as warm as i expected
I've paraded your photo through san mateo
Dreamin' '86 was resurrected

Chorus

And some thought they'd seen you, sister shirley
I swear i saw you meeting them
With better clothes and a different smile
Where on earth should i begin

Northern california's got that brochure appeal
But where's the wine that you poeticized
Nineteen and pregnant and hatin' the means
You responded to your thought dream cries

Chorus

Sun affirms the bayshore freeway, the moon burns bright in burlingame
Two weeks straight our daily bread's conclusions turn the same
Face me if and when i face you, black and white, how we embrace you

We love you and we hate you

Chorus

What's your name now, sister shirley
Did you run to better ground